


lay us down (we’re in love)

by rippedjuns



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff & Angst, Homophobia, I’m so soft for this ship it’s unreal, M/M, Polyamorphobia, Polyamory, There are a few p!atd references in here yes, i love brendon a lot okay, runaways - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-09 01:02:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13470408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rippedjuns/pseuds/rippedjuns
Summary: headlinesanti-polyamory marches spread across south koreanew homeless shelter opens its doors in seouljeonghan, joshua, and seungcheol run away from home





	lay us down (we’re in love)

**Author's Note:**

> recommended song: the end of all things by panic! at the disco
> 
> tw: homophobia, polyamorphobia, and use of strong language (nearing the end, its not a lot)

polyamory.

look at that word, and tell me if you’ve heard anything of the like on the media. any at all.

can’t think of one?

that’s because there’s hardly anything.

joshua knows that, because he’s searched far and wide for representation on his choice in love.

he had to keep it a secret from his mother, lock his true self behind closed doors. he didn’t even let her know that he was an open homosexual, let alone the fact that he has two boyfriends. he didn’t want to put insult to injury.

his mother seemed like a stalker, following all of his social media accounts, checking his search history every minute of the day, even scouting his room every hour. her favourite excuse would be to see if he was ‘ _being one of god’s children’_  and not ‘ _sinning until the cows come home_ ’. it wasn’t necessary for her to have the knowledge of the fact that joshua’s whole life goes against those statements.

there’s one account that she doesn’t know exists. a shared instagram account, between he and his two and only. memories of golden days framed in a phone screen, ones of shopping trips whilst giving gifts, carnival antics while sharing candy floss, and lazy days with fluffy socks. a virtual photo album that would forever be a part of the internet, that they could infinitely add to without the barrier of no pages or lack of storage.

their little corner of the internet, to express their gaiety towards being one.

he knew the world wasn’t that accepting of the three of them, people calling them horrific names that numbed him from the inside out, the only medicine to cure his pain being the comfort of his boyfriends. at points, he would feel bad, for they were always keeping him safe and making sure he was okay. it was harrowing to think about the fact that they were locking away their hurt just for him. he hated being weak.

but for some reason, they always stayed.

joshua’s mother called him downstairs one day in january, where a quiet drizzle of rain would glaze the windows and roofs of neighbouring houses. licking the surface of his cracked lips, he tiptoed down the stairs to the kitchen, a shiver running up his shin as his naked feet rolled onto the monochrome tiles. he was sure that she was to serve up dinner to the two plates on the countertop, the tornado of spices overwhelming any other scent present in the household. he was sure of it.

however, when he reached the countertop that his mother was behind, separating the two of them like they were different species, her frown threatened to grow.

in an attempt to lighten her mood, he gave her a smile. “is dinner ready, mother? i can always help if you need me to-“

“not with those dirty hands of yours,” she growled, “those sinful mits that you call your own.”

joshua furrowed his brows, the fear of the next sentence bubbling in his stomach. “what do you mean?” it was louder than a whisper, but quieter than normal.

holding a phone screen to his face, his mother snarled as his heart dropped to the floor. shattered. “who are they, and why are they kissing your cheek?”

a cat had caught his tongue, wrapping its legs around his throat, preventing him of breathing, of talking, of focusing. all he could see was the photo from his main instagram account, where a moment that was so precious to him was being spilled out to the wrong people. the people who don’t deserve to know of his happiness. the people who would spin it around, and make him feel like hell. such a treasured moment, made to feel like a picture of hell. that’s the impact that his mother’s words would drill into him. now - remembering briefly the nights where he would sob himself to sleep after hearing her cheers for anti-polyamory marchs (and anything to do with love and god) - joshua didn’t know how to react. he knew exactly what would occur, but he didn’t want everything to be revealed so suddenly.

“tell me now,” her inner predator made her howled at her son, “who are they?!”

“my boyfriends, okay!” begging every nerve and muscle in his body to hold back his tears, he stayed strong to rebel. “they have loved me from the start, and i would be nothing without them both!”

motionlessly staring for a second, his mother had to process the whole situation over and over, glaring deep into joshua’s shaking pupils. he thought he saw steam beginning to pour out from her ear canal, the end result to all of this not seeming good on the forecast.

the rest of the conversation was white noise.  
static sound waves passing between them.  
joshua was lucky to block them out as he raced up the stairs, locking his door as he entered the bedroom.

he barely made it to his bedside on time before his body collapsed beneath him, like a building demolition. with a hoarse voice, and weak muscles, he watched the fearful water dams open up from the barriers of his eyes, the pitter patter on the backpack he pulled out from under his bed reminding him off the showers that are plummeting down outside.

he didn’t fill it with much. just a few outfits, and the minimal essentials that he could scavenge for in his room alone, that’s all he would need. although it wasn’t ideal, he knew that he had to move out to somewhere better than the toxic house that he was suffocating slowly within.

there’s only two people left that he could grab a hold of for safety, and only one that rapidly answers their phone.

_“hello, seungcheol speaking.”_

“cheol, babe, i, i’m coming over...”

_“shua, what’s wrong? what’s going on-“_

“i haven’t got time, but, i promise to explain...everything later.”

he hung up, and prepared himself to sprint for the front door.

he would never look back.

☆彡☆彡☆彡☆彡☆彡☆彡☆彡☆彡☆彡

in his arms, he felt safe.

in his arms, he found tranquility.

in his arms, he was at home.

although there was still a third of them missing, it still felt like a fuzzy winter jacket when he hugged seungcheol.

they were on seungcheol‘s front lawn, rain not being the only thing to soak his shoulder. he hushed the younger’s sobs into somber whimpers, knitting patterns in his blushing hair with his fingertips. from the backpack, the older knew that the younger boy had run away, he remembered the boy talking about that backpack when they bought it, and immediately knew what he had to do. if his boyfriend wanted to leave home, he wasn’t letting him do it alone.

so into the house he had gone, to pack his bags and announcing his departure to his family.

of course they didn’t take it too well, both with the fact that he was leaving so eagerly, and the fact that he had boyfriends. seungcheol didn’t necessarily need that negativity buzzing about his life. so, he did what any logical teenager would do, and walked out, back into joshua’s arms.

“it’s going to be alright, okay? jeonghan has nice parents, hopefully everything should be alright. we’re going to get through this. it’s you, me, and jeonghan against the world. we won’t let you fade away from us, and we won’t ever leave you.”

thank god for gifting south korea with choi seungcheol.

once jisoo had calmed down a little, they began their trek to jeonghan’s house, which was a short while ahead. their fingers intertwined, weaving together like the buttons on a shirt, or the fabric of a dress. idling his sore head on seungcheol’s shoulder, joshua couldn’t help but realise that his free hand felt weird without it being held. jeonghan’s spot was currently empty, and it felt peculiar - not something that joshua would ever want. secretly, he hoped that he and seungcheol would be able to pick up the pace so that they could all be reunited, in order to get through the pain together.

his heart was crawling out from his chest, conflicted between staying beside seungcheol, or running towards jeonghan’s front door. he needed a hug from them both, with the fire burning in their hearts - much resembling the campfire that would brew in the local playground on new years, where they would burn innocent marshmallows to put between each other’s frozen lips, and they would sing songs about better days before the clock would strike midnight - warming all of them up at once.

albeit, he didn’t need to do either, for jeonghan was outside his house. his head was masked by his hands, shouts of profanities leaving his mouth. the voice of a robin, with the monologue of a crow.

“it’s adam and eve, jeonghan!” he satirised his parents, most likely from earlier on in the day. “not adam and steve! and most definitely not adam and steve and ben!” he groaned in annoyance too loudly for his liking, which drew seungcheol and joshua closer. they could sense that something similar had happened to jeonghan like what had occurred in their own life, and the eye-catching yet plain backpack cleared everything up for the two.

“i guess we all have the same mind track then, don’t we?” seungcheol attempted to lighten the mood, but with the haggard jeonghan on the astroturf and the taciturn joshua hanging off of the eldest like a koala bear, he knew that the idea was close to impossible. “it’s just what to do, now that we’ve abandoned all hope.”

“wonwoo told me about a new homeless shelter that had opened up recently in downtown seoul.” monotonously, jeonghan spoke up, picking at the plastic blades of artificial grass. he was clearly vexed. joshua pulled his phone out of his pocket, opening the uber app and hailing the nearest driver to jeonghan’s house.

until then, they stayed engulfed in silence. the odd tear would splash onto seungcheol’s shoulder, but he didn’t care. creating friction between his and joshua’s hand, he tried to lock the positive thoughts in their head. they were free from the hatred of their birth parents, free from the invisible shackles and the transparent jail bars that enclosed their truth selves away from the world. he could finally live in peace with the only two people that have ever mattered in his life, without the stress of them getting hurt by family. they were his family now. himself, jeonghan, and joshua were a family now.

a black ford fiesta pulled up, hitting the curb and causing joshua’s jaw to tighten. pulling himself to his feet, jeonghan walked up to seungcheol, and rapidly grabbed his spare hand with his own, the warmth now being transmitted equally to all three of the boys. joshua decided to sit in between the older two, and sank into the leather cushioning, his lungs just barely managing to keep him breathing. he didn’t have a clue as to why that was transpiring, yet he had every idea as to what was going on. his mind was heading towards closure and meltdown, with the world moving so swiftly around him. the seatbelts were locked. the engine had growled. they were out of their neighbourhood.

the man, around double - maybe even triple - their age, sat at the wheel, with a loose smile resting on his face. noticing the tension in the back seat, he cocked an eyebrow and asked where the boys were exactly heading to.

“the young man’s christian association? are you boys volunteers, then?” he asked, receiving no response. “my brother and i used to do that for the local food bank, and it really does make you feel that little bit better about yourself, doesn’t it?”

everything in the car seemed to stiffen. the silence was somewhat deafening, especially in the back seat, so the driver turned up the radio slightly.

“it makes you feel good because you realise the impact you’re making on someone’s life. someone who may be less fortunate than you, or who may not have good relations with others, and have nowhere to go. a lot of kids your age have had to go through that, you know.”

_‘there’s no need to hold back your tears, joshua.’_ his mother would tell him, when he would scrap his knee or get picked on in kindergarten. _‘strong boys show their emotions in order to show self control, and passion. you are god’s strong boy.’_

so then, he began to cry into the arms of the ones he loved.

when he was a toddler, it would’ve been his mother. the woman who dedicated her life to raising a young boy with good morals.

although now, at a time where he felt like he was no longer protected by that parental barrier, the river of tears meandered around jeonghan and seungcheol. the boys who felt his pain, rather than trying to understand it. the boys who hugged him and kissed him, rather than verbally displaying their affection. the boys who adored him for who he was, and didn’t want him to change at all.

the uber driver passed back a box of tissues, in which joshua grabbed a handful and buried his face with them, as if he were burying himself in a coffin underground. that would make jeonghan and seungcheol the mahogany box, hugging him to scare away worms or moles or any of the like.

“is it to do with the anti-polyamory riots downtown?” he peered through the rear view mirror, spotting the blonde haired boy on the left with the soft facial features leaning his head onto the shoulder of the candy floss boy in the middle with the eyes of a lost deer, whilst the boy with lips redder than a romantic rose was staring holes into the back of the passenger seat, deep in thought.

the boy on the left looked up at the driver. his eyes somewhat sparkled with hope, but the morning coffee irises were steamed over by fear. the fear of tomorrow, and what it awaits. the driver knew this feeling all too well, but his backstory was not important. not when these young boys are possibly going to starve before the sun rises the following day if they are left without support. “yes.” his hoarse voice piped up, “it’s...that.”

“i, i’m sorry.” sighing, the driver slowed down the vehicle for a traffic light, the glowing crimson contrasting against the grumpy sky above. “sometimes, i don’t really understand parents like yours. they try for months to conceive, to then grow you in their stomach for nine whole months, in order to throw you away the minute you say something they’re not too fond of. if you’re going to have a child, you’re going to raise and support that child until they are in their grave, not just last minute ditch them for nothing. do you know what i mean?”

“yes, i do.” jeonghan seemed fairly engaged in the talk, with the other pair lost within their own mind mazes. “it makes you feel like you’re a literal piece of garbage.”

“i know that feeling all too well,” revving up the engine to drive the last short distance, he cleared his throat to gain all of their attention. “if there’s one thing you guys should know, it’s that they won’t stay like this forever. whether it be next week, or when you are fifty two years old, your parents will realise their mistakes, and let you come running back into their arms. but until then, there are thousands - millions, even - that want to help you, that want to support you. most of them can relate, like i, and they don’t want you feeling the same heartburns. just keep that faith, okay?”

they nodded in unison, satisfying the driver.

they pulled up at the shelter.  
the driver gave them a full refund of the fare, in cash.

“use this to buy yourself something nice to eat,” he had said, “you deserve it.”

☆彡☆彡☆彡☆彡☆彡☆彡☆彡☆彡☆彡

the room was nothing special. it was obvious that it wasn’t going to be like those studio apartments they would look up on google, with the extravagant architecture and the 52 inch flat screen television. the bed sheets and duvets were pale and tired themselves, ripped in several places from over-exhaustion, with the corresponding pillows by the headrest feeling as if they were filled with rocks rather than feathers. a television did sit at the foot of the bed, but its screen would flicker at points, the cinema experience that most televisions promoted failing to be presented to them. there was a typical kitchen area, with a laundromat and a food bank in the reception area of the shelter, although none of it was the sparkling, spotless, star-studded appliances the three had dreamed of owning.

jeonghan was leaning beside the open window, trying to get a signal whilst calling up the local takeout restaurant and order their food. seungcheol had his head against the wicker board of the bed, scrolling through his phone and using up everything he can before his parents cut off his contract. joshua just sat upon the mattress, with his knees so close to his face and neck, you would think that it was choking him. he gazed upon the television, and the static glitching on the screen.

“a penny for your thoughts?” seungcheol reached his arm out to snake around the youngest boy, who obviously didn’t decline either offer.

“i’m just still in shock,” he spoke, with that voice which could lull seungcheol to sleep. “i’ll get over it soon.”

“it’s just that this isn’t like you, you’d usually be the responsible one, looking after mine and jeonghan’s butts.” he let out a giggle, which only cracked a short smile from the youngest. “you can tell me what’s wrong, i want to help you.”

joshua gulped.

“...she called me a prostitute.”

his voice cracked as the tears failed to hold themselves back.

the oldest boy had to process that sentence in his head for a second there, and jeonghan took a moment to gasp when he overheard the words pass joshua’s lips (luckily he had ended the call, and was about to head over to the bed to join the conversation).

“pardon, a what?” seungcheol’s eyes were as wide as the clouded sky, fired up with anger; lightning bolts. jeonghan seemed to follow in suit, jaw dropping exceptionally low.

“we were having an argument before i left, and just screamed at me. ‘you’re a greedy-

_prostitute! all of your stinking kind are!’ her voice was laced with hatred. he couldn’t put his finger on whether it was general or personal, he didn’t really want to know either. ‘selfish monsters of society, i didn’t bring you up to betray god like this! polyamory is a poor excuse for sex, and you’re a poor excuse for a son! go ahead and have a pointless life, but don’t come running back to me when you regret your sinful decisions, you horrid, undeserving thing!’_

-and after that, i just couldn’t take her anymore. she knows i’m a virgin as well! i didn’t want to have to experience what could have followed if i decided to stay.”

“babe, you did the right thing.” jeonghan untucked his fingers from his long-sleeved sweater, and began to wipe away the american’s tears, kissing away the last one that had decided to fall.

“stop being so greasy, hannie.” seungcheol chuckled at the boy’s attempt at comfort, which finally led to joshua being able to hold a smile. “but yes, it was best to get out of there before anything physical occurred.”

“i guess i’m just so glad to know that you two have my back, because i certainly have yours.” joshua’s glowing smile and blinding teeth appeared, outshining every star in the sky in a millisecond. jeonghan and seungcheol both felt their heart rates run out of control, slowing and quickening without any warning.

“yah, shua! stop being so cute!” they both shouted possibly too vehemently, bundling on top of the youngest boy and drowning him in kisses, from the crown of his head to the poking collarbone.

he couldn’t stop giggling.  
he refused to stop giggling.

this is what he loved. being able to be passionately in love with two people who seemed like princes from a fairytale book. this was his life, and he refused to live it under the shadow of his mother’s rules.

they almost forgot about the impatient doorbell as they laid back on the uncomfortable mattress, euphoria steaming up the room around them as they all stargazed in one another’s eyes.

that day may have been the end of all things, but something new has blossomed in its place.

the beginning of their family. 

**Author's Note:**

> ((sorry if any of it seems rushed at all >o<))
> 
> feedback is always appreciated!
> 
> ☆thank you for reading!☆


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